On November 1st, the first Sino-Dutch Education Policy Dialogue on Vocational Education & Universities of Applied Sciences Cooperation was held in Beijing. The policy dialogue was initiated by the Chinese and Dutch Ministry of Education and implemented by the Netherlands organization for international cooperation in higher education (Nuffic) and its Chinese counterpart CEAIE.

During the VIP meeting with Mr. Schutte, Vice Minister Lu Xin of MoE, expressed great hopes for Dutch and Chinese education institutions to establish long-term partnerships. In the following sessions and roundtable discussion at the Policy Dialogue seminar, Chinese and Dutch government officials, school representatives and other experts shared their views on the developments and cooperation in the field of Vocational and Technical Education.

The Policy Dialogue seminar was concluded with the official signing of the Letter of Intent (LoI) between the Ministries of Education of China and the Netherlands. Both ministries intend to establish a mechanism of continuous dialogue and cooperation between governments, educational institutions, associations and companies of China and the Netherlands. There are plans to establish a joint working group to facilitate dialogue and to ensure concrete results of the new partnerships between both countries.

On the next day this intention was partially materialized during the Sino-Dutch Education Matchmaking Reception at the Netherlands embassy hosted by Ambassador Jacobi and Science Attaché David Pho. Dutch and Chinese education institutions were able to identify suitable partners further discuss concrete possibilities for exchange and collaboration.